


I Lose Myself In You

by DalishGreyWarden



Series: The Fae Chronicals [1]
Category: Original Work, Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Shameless Smut, everyone gets a happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:09:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24429277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DalishGreyWarden/pseuds/DalishGreyWarden
Summary: Danica Reid is the princess of the Fae Court of Stars. She has to flee her kingdom as the Blood Court attacks, fending off a werewolf and his Fae commander in a vicious attack, leaving her wounded and angry. Her soulmate rescues her in the nick of time and now Danica has to learn how to cope with the loss of her people, her newfound relationship, and band together with four other displaced Fae women to try and take her kingdom back from those who want her dead.
Relationships: Chibs Telford/Original Female Character(s), Clay Morrow/Gemma Teller Morrow, Donna Winston/Opie Winston, Gemma Teller Morrow/Nero Padilla, Half-Sack Epps/Original Female Character(s), Happy Lowman/Original Female Character(s), Jax Teller/Original Female Character(s), Juice Ortiz/Original Female Character(s), Opie Winston/Original Female Character(s), Tara Knowles/Original Character(s)
Series: The Fae Chronicals [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764178
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Blood wept down my face from deep gashes that burned and ached, the blood leaving thin golden trails over my left eye and down my cheek, dripping onto the remains of my shredded dress. The werewolf that had been hunting me since the Witchwoods of the Faelands and out into the mortal realm raised his malformed hand to his muzzle, licking the glittery gold blood from his twisted, gnarly claws, a low growl reverberating in the back of his throat. He was studying me, watching my every move to try and find an opening to jump back in and add to the damage he’d already caused. I was swaying in place, woozy from blood loss, but I couldn’t let my guard down, even for a moment.

“Heel boy, heel.” A silvery voice came from the shadows behind the wolf, another Fae stepping out onto the asphalt of the road we were on. He had a vicious smirk on his face as he called off his minion, his sharp, angular features displaying a sadistic glee that I only ever saw those of the Blood Court project. I’d never seen anyone like him before though; his left eye was sealed shut, old scars keeping it that way, while his other bright crimson eye gleamed with a malice that sent a quiver through me. His midnight black hair was neat, worn back in a ponytail with fine wisps of hair framing his pointed face and a pair of rotting wings that reminded me of mud flared out behind him, bones peaking out from between bits of flesh hanging off the frame of the wings. And he was tall, much taller than most Fae males, towering over me even from ten feet away. I shuddered again, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from him as possible.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the princess of the Star Court. Oh, I’m sorry, I guess I mean Queen,” He mockingly bowed with a maniacal grin on his face. “Please excuse me, Your Majesty, I’m afraid you don’t have much of a court to rule over anymore. You’re welcome for that, by the way.” He was clearly pleased with his role in wiping out my family and our people. “There’s quite a handsome reward for bringing you in. My Queen and King will be pleased to see you back in their clutches.”

I watched as he stalked forward, a large dragon bone and obsidian dagger held loosely in his long, thin hand, the blade gleaming in the moonlight. Even from here I could tell that it was razor sharp and if I let him near me with that thing, he’d slice me into ribbons. I’d have to be smart about this; I was already bleeding pretty heavily from my face and torso, deep slashes in my chest, across my belly and dug into my ribs.

“Eat me.” I spat at him, the glob of spittle and blood hitting him in the face and sliding down his cheek onto the lapel of his bright red suit. His smile quickly went sour upon seeing my will to fight was still strong, even after being chased for who knows how long and got my ass kicked ten ways to next week. His anger was going to, hopefully, be his downfall. I just had to make sure I was quicker than he was.

“Tempting really, I’m sure your blood would be sweet and chock full of fear, but alas, I need you somewhat alive to bring back to the Blood Court.” He kept his voice light and breezy, throwing himself towards me, dagger poised to strike. I dove out of the way, hitting the ground and rolling away, gasping in pain as rocks and dirt lodged themselves in my gaping wounds. Moving quicker than I anticipated, he swung down again, the dagger slicing through the back of my shirt like a hot knife through butter, splitting the skin of my spine like it was nothing. More golden blood dripped into the road, the drops and small puddles glimmering in the light of the full moon and I found myself unable to get up, breathing hard against the pain.

“What a shame, I was expecting more of a fight with that attitude of yours.” He laughed loudly, coming closer so he could land a solid kick in my ribs, the force of the kick knocking the wind out of me. He kicked me again, and again, toying with me, taunting me, laughing at how helpless he thought I was. Letting out a pained grunt, I managed to catch his foot as he swung it for another kick, pulling him down to the ground with me.

“Fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on.” I panted, pushing myself up and started punching down into his face repeatedly, his nose crunching under my fist, his thin lips splitting with each hit I got in. He growled, struggling under me, and managed to get his arm up, thrusting the dagger forward into my left shoulder, twisting it viciously. I shrieked loudly, white hot fire blazing through my entire arm as he continued to twist the dagger around maliciously.

“Fucking bitch!” He was screeching in my ear, fighting back hard to try and get out from under me. He reached up with sharp talons, digging into the gashes on my face left by his precious pet, making sure to dig deeper into my skin while fangs sank into the junction of my neck and right shoulder, digging in as hard as he could. I grabbed hold of his ear, yanking down as hard as possible, getting satisfaction of feeling the skin give way under the pressure of my pulling down. He let go of my shoulder, screaming loudly, his fingers digging in deeper to my face, black blood covering my fingers from his ear. I let go long enough to get the dagger out of my shoulder and attacked his wings with his own weapon, sawing through flesh, muscle, and bone, and tore the appendages from his back.

I couldn’t tell our screams apart anymore, my hearing quickly becoming just a constant ringing, our blood mingling as we scrapped, trying to one up the other person. He was on top of me, talons digging into my throat as he pressed them into my windpipe, effectively strangling me. Darkness began to pull at the edges of my vision, dizziness threatening to pull me down into its depths, when bright lights managed to catch our attention. While he was distracted, I was able to rip his hands off my throat and kick him off of me towards the oncoming lights. I gasped for air as I crawled away, my brain thankful for the sudden onslaught of oxygen I was able to get in.

By this point his pet had fled, abandoning him to whatever fate lay in store for him, which I found rather humorous. “So much for loyalty.” I half laughed, half wheezed, blood bubbling up in my mouth as I lay there on my back, threatening to choke me. As he lunged at me with a crazed look on his face, the car that had been heading our way slammed full force into him, sending him flying into the woods nearby.

“I win.” I managed to gurgle before darkness took me in its hungry grasp, pulling me down into its depths.

~*~*~

Pain was the first thing I felt when I started to regain consciousness, my entire body screaming in agony as I shifted a little so I could try to lift my head to look around and see where the hell I was.

“Shit! Hey, whoa, don’t move.”

I knew that voice; he was my mate’s friend, or one of them anyway. I managed to open my eyes, my left covered with bandages, and saw the blonde, Jax I believed his name was, sitting next to my bed in a chair.

“Hey, you’re okay, you’re safe now. This is a safe place. I’ll be right back, just stay put and don’t try to move.” His voice was calm, soothing almost, and he got to his feet so he could go do something. I took a deep breath, making a slight face at the sterile smell surrounding me, and laid there quietly to wait and see what was happening. I could hear voices coming towards the room and I whimpered a little bit, hurting badly. “Ivar, Tara, she’s up and needs pain meds. She was crying out in her sleep. Can you hook her up with anything?”

I could see Jax speaking softly with a Fae male and a human woman, their faces grim as they were speaking. Another human male came over and sat on the bed with me, careful to not jostle me in anyway, his hand gently resting on mine. He had his hair styled in a mohawk with tribal tattoos flanking it and these beautifully rich, deep chocolatey eyes that were full of concern and relief.

“You’re finally awake,” His voice was soft, kind, and the sound of it immediately comforted me. “Ivar didn’t think you were gonna wake up anytime soon.” His other hand went up to tenderly smooth my hair back out of my face, the gesture a kind one.

“Can I have some water please?” My voice was just barely above a whisper, my throat raw and angry from screaming.

“Yeah, I’ll go get you a cup. Be right back.” He carefully got up and left while this Ivar and the woman came over with some medical equipment.

“Your Highness, I’m Ivar of the Court of Ashes. My mate, Tara, and I are going to get you hooked up to a few IVs so you can get pain medication and rest.” Ivars’ voice was mildly hoarse, a trait of Ashen Fae, and he got to work finding a vein to insert a needle into. I cried out again as they worked and Tara quietly apologized, not wanting to actually hurt me.

“Getting up is going to be next to impossible for a few days, so I’m going to have to insert a catheter, okay? I’ll wait until you’re a little more numb from the medication. Jax, can you keep Juice out of here while I do this please?” Tara kept her voice even and calm and Jax nodded, following Ivar out of the room while Tara got things together to give me this catheter thing. “This is going to be uncomfortable and I am so sorry, I know you’ve already been through enough tonight and I’m honestly not trying to add anymore discomfort to what you’re already experiencing.” She continued as she carefully moved my legs so she could get up in there. Tears ran down my cheeks as she worked and the moment she was done, she poked her head out the door to let them know it was good to come in. Juice was immediately by my side again, sitting carefully so he wouldn’t jostle my IV lines or any of my body parts, and tenderly wiped my tears away with a tissue, pain on his face as he took in my battered and bruised up appearance.

“I’m staying here tonight with her. I wasn’t there to protect her from that son of a bitch and I’m not letting that happen again.” Juice told Ivar and Tara, his voice firm and defiant. The pair looked at one another, neither of them willing to argue with my mate about whether or not he could stay.

“It’s cool man. I’ll let Clay know what’s going on, don’t worry about coming in tomorrow.” Jax clapped Juice on the shoulder and said his goodbyes. Ivar and Tara followed behind, quietly shutting the door behind them leaving Juice and I alone. I yawned, the pain medication slapping me square across the face, my eyelids growing heavy as sleep pulled me back beneath the waves all over again.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple days had gone by since my fight with that Blood Court warrior, my strength finally starting to come back enough that I was able to sit up on my own and was able to be wheeled around in a wheelchair. Juice hadn’t left my side the entire time, making sure that he was there to help take care of me alongside Tara and Ivar. I still ached all over, my wounds already scarring up thanks to my rather speedy healing abilities, though the pain was far deeper than just my skin. My soul was hurting as I mourned my people, sending silent prayers to the gods to watch over their souls as they made their way to Valhalla. It felt unreal, like it was just some awful nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from no matter how hard I tried to.

“Morning babe,” Juice came in, a coffee in one hand and a bag of something that smelled amazing in the other. “Brought you some breakfast. Thought you’d appreciate something sweet.” He plopped down next to me on his bed, that megawatt grin lighting his handsome face up.

“Thank you love, it smells divine.” I took the bag, opening it up to reveal an array of croissants, freshly baked from the smell of it, and fished one out, taking a rather large bite. The taste of flaky pastry and warm chocolate exploded on my tongue, and I let out a content hum of approval as I chewed, pleased at the taste. Juice took a drink of coffee before setting it down so he could lay down with me, his arms immediately wrapping around me carefully so he could hold me close to him. I leaned into him, my head resting on his shoulder as we ate quietly, just enjoying being together, when I noticed he had some tension in his shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” I looked up at him with a slight frown.

“I have to go back to work. There’s some shit going on and I’m concerned about what’s going to happen.” He mumbled, not meeting my eyes. I managed to sit up on my knees, cupping his face in my hands to make him look at me, my thumbs stroking over his cheekbones softly.

“I’m assuming it's dangerous whatever is going on. Just… be safe, okay? Don’t get reckless because I just found you. I don’t want to lose you before we really get to know each other.” I gave him a smile, trying to reassure him it would be okay. It seemed to work, the tension ebbing away as he wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his forehead on mine, our lips just barely touching.

“Promise I’ll be smart about it.”

“You better be. I don’t want another incident like the, uh, well… the almost indecent exposure moment with some man named Hale.” I grinned, teasing him about a brief moment I unfortunately got to witness. His cheeks went crimson and he covered his face with his hands, groaning as he fell back onto the bed.

“Jesus Christ, you _saw_ that?”

“Oh yeah. I saw everything. It was at the _worst_ time possible, too. I was in the middle of a political meeting and imagine having to explain to my board of advisors why I was laughing so hard in the midst of something so serious. They were less than thrilled, my parents even less so.” I chuckled, laying back with him.

“Oh, great, what a wonderful first impression to have on your parents before we even meet. I’ll be known as the ‘slightly retarted child’ to them.”

I grew silent at the mention of my parents, my heart aching all over again. He’d never get the chance to meet them now, thanks to the Blood Court. I could feel him shift so he was laying on his side, staring at me with a strange look on his face.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no. Um. You don’t have to worry about leaving a good impression on my family. They’re gone. My entire Court is gone. I’m the Queen of an empty court now thanks to the Blood Court and… it doesn’t feel real. I keep thinking that I’m going to wake up and that everything is the way it was before…” I swallowed against the lump in my throat, trying to hold back the tears brimming, sniffling a little bit as I reached up to scrub the tears away with the back of my hand. My home, my people, everything was just gone, dust in the wind as it were. It hurt to say out loud and it felt as if my heart was going to burst through my ribcage and wither away in my lap. Juice hugged me, careful not to squeeze too tightly, stroking my hair and murmuring soft apologies, and the dam just shattered, leaving me a sobbing, hiccuping mess of a Fae blubbering into my mate’s shoulder.

“Danica? Are you okay? You’re not in pain again are you?”

I shook my head when I heard Tara’s voice coming from the door, still sobbing into Juice’s shoulder, giving myself a few more minutes to cry it out before trying to regain my composure. I took the tissue Tara was holding out, blowing my nose and tossed it into the trash can, taking in a few shaky breaths to try and ground myself again.

“I apologize for that, I swear I don’t lose my cool like that often.” I cleared my throat, avoiding Tara and Juice’s eyes, choosing to look at my hands instead, picking at my nails quietly.

“Babe don’t apologize. You lost your entire family, if you _weren’t_ upset I’d be concerned.” Juice murmured in my ear, hugging me again. His kindness was highly appreciated, especially right now. Between not being able to do much and coping with losing everything, having him here and having his support meant the world to me. “I’ve gotta go but I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed my forehead and got up, saying bye to Tara and took off.

“I hate this. I hate being stuck in bed, I hate the damned Blood Court, I just… I _hate_ everything right now.” I took Tara’s hand as she helped me up so I could sit in the wheelchair she’d brought with her. “I want to fucking walk again! And I want to find that son of a bitch who did this to me and make him face a reckoning to end all reckonings.”

“Do you think he could have survived Juice hitting him with a car?”

“It takes a lot to kill a Fae. Getting hit with a car might wreck his shit for a while but it won’t ultimately kill him unfortunately. He’s suffering though, there’s no doubt about that. You add in the injuries I gave him and then getting slammed into full force by a car, then tossed through the air like a rag doll, and he’s not having a good time out there.” I was pleased by the thought of him laying out there in those woods all alone and in an immense amount of pain. I hoped he was hurting worse than I was, especially since I took his wings from him. If he was still breathing, he’d be gunning for me for that; taking a winged Fae’s wings was the ultimate insult that you could do to someone.

“Give me a moment, please. I want to try and walk,” I was determined to get out of this stupid chair and actually use my own to feet to get places. “I refuse to be carted around when my legs work.” I pushed myself up, feeling like a newborn unicorn foal as my legs trembled under my weight, threatening to give way. Gritting my teeth, I took two steps, nearly tumbling over from how weak I was still, and caught myself on a door handle. I wasn’t about to give up and pushed myself to keep going, Tara sticking close by just in case, and was able to actually make my way into the kitchen, only stumbling a few more times in the process.

“My mother used to joke that I would do things early out of spite because I didn’t like being left behind by the other children or because someone would tell me I couldn’t do it. I think she was right.” I chuckled softly as I leaned on the counter, taking a moment to rest. “The quicker I can recover, the quicker I can get out there to find that son of a bitch and bring him to justice. I want answers from him about this attack. The Blood Court is usually so busy fighting amongst themselves that they’d never thought to come after us before, so what made them band together now?” I was puzzled by the sudden willingness to work together, wondering what or who got them to stop the squabbling long enough to turn their focus to my court. And was it just my court who was attacked or did they target the other courts too? Whatever triggered these events, it was unsettling to think about.


	3. Chapter 3

_Where did I put that cocoa butter? I swore I just saw it. _I was rummaging around the bathroom, trying to find where I put the tub of cocoa butter Tara gave me to put on my scars when they’d feel itchy, cursing a blue streak when I banged my elbow into the sink in the process of hunting. While I was pretty much healed up now, I was still a little unsteady on my feet and if I even slightly leaned the wrong way, I’d find myself close to toppling over, causing me to flail about like an absolute moron in an attempt to catch myself before I fell.__

__“Son of a motherfucking bitch!” I hissed, rubbing the spot I’d hit, knowing it would be a bruise later. Now I had a throbbing elbow and itchy scars, still no cocoa butter, and my mood was quickly deteriorating the longer I stood here searching. With another muttered curse, I gave up and went out to the kitchen for a bite to eat instead, deciding to focus on something else for a while. “How the fuck did you get out here?” I spotted the cocoa butter sitting on the counter and I snatched it up, slapping a thin layer of it onto the scars on my belly, legs and face. Finally, a little relief!_ _

__“Hey you’re up!” Juice came walking in through the front door, Jax and a Fae woman I’d never seen before following right behind him. “You didn’t answer your phone, so I thought you might still be sleeping.” He placed a quick kiss to my forehead and went to raid the fridge._ _

__“Oh, sorry, I was looking for my cocoa butter for my scars,” I turned my gaze towards the other Fae, eyes getting wide when I realized who she was after getting a good look at her. “You’re Nyx, right? The princess of the Court of Death? I… I have a lot of questions… um… is it alright if we…?” I hesitated momentarily, wanting to ask her about my parents, but I wasn’t sure if I could get the words out. She just smiled very faintly and nodded, walking with me into the living room so we could sit and talk._ _

__“I’m sure you want to know about your people. Quite a few managed to escape, I ran into a group of them claiming someone from the Blood Court helped them. I brought them to the Winter Court for protection, they’re safe, they’re alive.” She spoke first, resting a hand on mine in a reassuring manner. I could feel the relief run down my body at her words, but a slight nagging feeling held me back from being too happy._ _

__“And my parents? What about them?”_ _

__“I don’t know. I didn’t see them among the dead, but I can’t say for sure. I’m so sorry, Danica. I truly wish I had more helpful news for you.” She murmured softly._ _

__“So there’s a chance they could still… Thank you, I really appreciate your kindness. And thank you for getting the survivors to the Winter Court, that means more to me than you’ll ever know.” I didn’t dare to get my hopes up about my parents surviving the massacre but it was hard not to. There was a chance, no matter how slim, that they were out there still, hiding, biding their time to strike back._ _

__“It was the least I could do. It’s lucky that Jax had already met you, I was worried that it was going to take forever to find you. Now we just need to find the others.”_ _

__“The others? What do you mean?” I tilted my head, curious._ _

__“We need to find Ashlyn Amarais and Keres Artino. I’ve already spoken to Natalya of the Court of Bones before coming here. My mother, Queen Morrigan, has predicted that together, the five of us will take down the Blood Court Queen and return balance to the Faelands. Even as we sit here talking, there’s a darkness creeping through our homeland, eating away at all that there is. I can feel it and I know that you can, too.” Nyx’s face was grim as she talked, explaining why she was here._ _

__“I’m not working with Keres. Her crazy mother is the reason my people are mostly gone! Why the hell would I work with the enemy?” I snapped, bristling at the mere mention of her name. I wasn’t too keen on working with the Court of Bones princess, either, but she’d be better than Keres._ _

__“I completely understand your reservations, but she’s the reason that some of your people were able to get away. That young man who helped them? It was on orders of Keres. She’s been branded a traitor by her own mother and has a bounty out to bring her in dead or alive.”_ _

__I paused a moment, taking in Nyx’s words. Why would she do something like that for my people? Our people have been at war for centuries, it didn’t make sense that she’d brand herself a traitor. “Why? What’s she playing at?” I eyed the Death Fae warily, not entirely sure about trusting her now._ _

__“Are people not allowed to grow? To change their views? Keres is not Helena, Danica. Just as you aren’t your parents, she isn’t her mother.” Nyx towered over me when she stood up, her thin arms crossed over her chest as she looked down on me with raised eyebrows and a slight scowl._ _

__“You’re right. I apologize. That was unworthy of me. I’m still not completely comfortable working with her, I will probably continue to have my reservations about it until she can prove to me otherwise, but I’ll try my best to get along with her.” I murmured, shame burning on my cheeks. I wasn’t usually so quick to judge, but after everything that happened… well… my reluctance to automatically trust Keres was understood. “I need to make a trip to the Winter Court. I have to let my people know that while the King and Queen are still missing, I’m still alive and willing to do whatever I can to help.”_ _

__Nyx gave a single nod before sweeping from the room, telling Jax she was going back to the hotel she was staying at and left, Jax following behind her. I sat back on the couch, silently contemplating just what the right thing to do here was._ _

__“Dani?”_ _

__I looked up and smiled just a touch as Juice came walking in and plopped down onto the couch next to me, a slight frown on his face as he reached up to push my bangs out of my face. “I have to go to the Winter Court. Some of my people are still alive, maybe even my parents. I-” I was cut off when he pressed his lips to mine in a tender kiss, his hands cupping my face._ _

__“I know, I heard. Go do what you need to do baby. I’ll still be here when you get back.”_ _


	4. Chapter 4

An icy breeze tossed my hair about my face as I entered the Winter Court, shivering a little despite the thick coat I donned at the insistence of Juice. I hadn’t been here since I was a small faeling with my family to celebrate Yule. Waiting for me at the gates was Ulric Rolloson, my childhood best friend and first love, a cocky smirk on his full lips as he approached me and embraced me tightly.

“It’s good to see you again, Dani! I’ve missed seeing you around.” He grinned, his deep grey eyes twinkling with mischief.

“I missed you too, Ulric. I was told some of my people made it here under the guidance of Nyx. It’s important that I speak to them.” I returned his hug and stepped back a bit to get some breathing room. Ulric grew serious quickly, nodding slightly as he motioned for me to follow after him.

“Aye that’s true. We’re gearing up for war as we speak. The Blood Court won’t be allowed to get away with this,” His tone was icy, full of spite, then softened when he glanced down at me. “I’m truly happy that you’re alive. I was really worried.” He slid his hand into mine, fingers twining together, and I immediately tensed up. Sometimes soulmates didn’t work the way we wanted them to. You could be someone’s soulmate, but they wouldn’t be yours, they would be someone else’s and sadly, that was the case here. Juice and I were soulmates, but Ulric had the unfortunate problem of having me as a soulmate when I wasn’t his. I didn’t really understand how all of that worked out exactly, it was fairly complicated, but I did know that it hurt him to know that I belonged with someone else. I extracted my hand from his, not wanting to hurt him, but I didn’t feel comfortable with this display of affection.

“Um… how many were brought here? I didn’t get a chance to ask Nyx.” I cleared my throat awkwardly.

“At least twenty adults and I’m pretty sure we have every single child from your Court here. Blood Court doesn’t kill children, so it makes sense they’d all have been rescued no problem.” Ulric was trying to act as if he was fine, but I could see the sadness in his eyes, hear it in his wintry voice that crackled like ice being broken, and my heart ached for him.

“Damn it. Those poor children. I’m just glad they were able to get away.” I murmured. Silence fell between us, the walk awkward thanks to the slightly forced intimacy that I broke away from. I hated that things were like this, we used to be so close and now… now it felt like I didn’t know who he was anymore. “I’m sorry.” I glanced towards him, biting my lip nervously.

“What? No, hey, hold on, don’t apologize. If anyone should be saying sorry, it’s me. I shouldn’t have…” He trailed off, the tips of his ears going pink. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be putting you in an awkward position. Part of me just wanted things to be the way they were before all of this. That’s on me, that’s my fault.” He had pulled us to a stop, his hands holding mine gently, a look of seriousness that made him seem older than he was lined his face. I reached up and tucked a loose braid behind his ear, grinning just slightly.

“Apology accepted Ulric. Now relax a little, you’re starting to look like your father with your face like that,” I teased him with a soft smile, laughing at his faux outrage.

“You wound me with your words, Dani! How could you?!” He jokingly covered his eyes with the back of his hand, trying his best to not laugh and failing miserably. I started laughing too, both of us laughing even harder when the guards by the palace looked at us like we’d grown two heads. “Come on, we should try and compose ourselves before talking to your people.”

~*~*~

By the time I’d made it back to Charming, I felt like an icicle; my poor ears and nose were frozen to the touch, I could barely feel my fingers and I had snowflakes stuck in my hair and a thin layer of ice on my eyelashes. I’d forgotten just how cold the Winter Court was compared to my court and certainly compared to Charming. Even with the thick coat and gloves, I was still frozen through and through.

“Shit babe, you’re blue!” Juice ushered me towards the bathroom, drawing me a warm bath, and helped me slide out of my clothes. I shook from the cold but got into the tub, hissing at the temperature change, wincing in pain from the shock.

“I’m okay, it’s just really cold there.” I protested, not wanting him to go through all this trouble for my sake. He ignored me, bringing in a small heater and getting that going to help warm the room up before going off who knows where to do who knows what, leaving me to soak in the tub alone. Letting out a soft sigh, I sank down into the water quietly, thinking over my trip to the Court. I’d cried with my people upon seeing them, taking the time to speak to every single person individually, sitting with the kids and making them laugh, crying with the ones who needed to cry, and holding the littlest ones who didn’t understand what was happening. It was a relief seeing them, but my heart broke more for them, the ones who’d lost someone, a parent, a child, friends, family, people they loved dearly and cared about. And then there were the Court of Dreams Fae who had no idea if anyone from the royal family survived not to mention their families and friends. There weren’t enough of us left to go to war with the Winter Court, but from what Ulric and Ivar had said, it looked as if the Court of Ashes was going to step in to join the Winter Court in pushing the Blood Court back. The Court of Ashes was finally taking a huge step in going from a neutral court to our allies, which I was thankful for.

“Here, I made you some coffee,” Juice knelt down next to me, a mug in hand and a soft smile on his face.

“Thank you love,” I sat up and leaned over the side of the cool porcelain and kissed him before taking the mug and drinking the coffee. “This helps immensely.” And it did: I finally had feeling in my fingers again and my body felt far less frozen now. The water in the tub needed to be drained and refilled with hot water again, but at least I felt warm.

“How’d it go? Is everyone okay?”

“We talked, we cried… they’ll be staying in the Winter Court for now to keep them protected. I plan on going weekly to visit and spend time with them, they need to see that I’m here and that I care. I may also start taking in a child or two at a time to teach them about our people and show them that not everyone is scary or evil.” I traced patterns over his hand and up his arm with my fingertips, losing myself in thought again.

“I don’t know how you do it. I’d be out there gunning for the sons of bitches who did this. You’ve got this composure that’s pretty damn admirable.”

“If I were stronger and had more backup, I would be at the Blood Court gates, kicking them in and slicing Queen Helena open from throat to crotch, tearing her intestines out and unraveling them on the floor. My lack of action is due to my injuries and my lack of soldiers.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey, I’m going to be gone for most of the day, maybe even most of tonight. I have somewhere I need to go and I don’t know how long this trip is going to take me. It could even be a couple of days before I return. I’ll see you when I get back.”

It was still very early in the morning, the sun not even quite coming up yet, when I shook Juice awake enough to let him know I was going out. I was going to attempt to return home to see if I could find any hidden survivors or anything that could tell me the fate of my parents, but I didn’t want to worry him by just up and vanishing.

“Okay? Where are you goin’?” He yawned, not opening his eyes as he rolled over to face the sound of my voice.

“Home. I just… I need some closure.” I murmured softly.

“D’you want me to come with you?” Juice sat up, throwing the covers aside, getting to his feet with a slight groan as he stretched.

“Don’t you have to work today?” I raised an eyebrow, giving him a look.

“Nope, it’s my day off. I’m goin’ with you, I don’t feel good about you goin’ alone.” He was more awake now, slipping past me to go and get ready. Part of me was happy he was coming along, I’d have someone to keep me company while I did this, but I was leery of any Blood Court members still skulking about. I didn’t want him to get hurt because of me.

“Alright, almost ready,” Juice strapped some sort of vest on before slipping into a tight, black t-shirt and slid into his kutte. “You sure you wanna do this?” He checked his gun, tucking it into the waistband of his jeans.

“Yes, I’m sure. And uh, what are you bringing that for? It won’t do anything other than potentially piss some Fae off if we run into any.” I motioned to his jeans where the gun was tucked away.

“It won’t do anything?”

“No. It’ll just piss ‘em off. The only thing that will really hurt us is pure iron. Being in the same vicinity will make us itch, touching it will burn our skin, and having it shoved into a vital organ? Well… let’s just say it’s unpleasant.” I shuddered at the thought of death by iron. I’d only seen it happen once and it was fairly traumatic to witness.

“That bad, huh?”

“Trust me when I say you _really_ don’t want to know the answer to that.” I shuddered again, wincing a little at the memory of that day. “I’ve witnessed it once and I hope to never see it again.” I could just feel my stomach churning and I quickly shook it off, trying to think of anything but that day.

“Okay. Okay, yeah, I believe you babe.” He pulled me in for a quick hug, squeezing me tightly for a moment before letting go so he could put his shoes on.

“Stick close to me in the Witchwoods. Mortals usually get easily led astray there and I don’t want to be chasing you down because you got distracted.” I muttered as we stepped outside where a glimmering path of starlight met with the front of the apartment, leading us into the dark of the woods. I felt Juice slip his hand into mine, our fingers laced together, and we stepped onto the path, walking into the Witchwoods.

The Witchwoods were eerily silent, an unusual event for this place as you could normally see and hear animals, elves, sprites, and other such creatures traveling the paths, but not today for some odd reason. The air felt heavier than usual, too, giving the Witchwoods an unsettling feel to them.

“Is it usually this… spooky?” Juice cleared his throat nervously, glancing around us.

“No, not around the paths. This isn’t right, something is very wrong.” A chill ran down my spine the closer we got to my court, the feeling of being watched getting stronger. “Oh shit.” I stopped just outside the silver gate, covering my mouth with a hand. The gates were hanging off the hinges, almost completely torn off the moonstone wall they’d been attached to, bodies scattered about the ground, a few impaled on the spikes at the top of the gates. It was a mix of my people and Blood Court Fae, showing they had taken our patrol by surprise, getting the advantage at least momentarily on the heavily armored men and women.

“Danica, are you really sure you wanna do this?” I could feel Juice gripping my hand tightly in his, the warmth of his skin against mine grounding me. I could only nod, willing my feet to move forward, taking slow, halting steps towards my home.

“I have to give them their proper rites. I won’t let them be disrespected like this,” I let go of his hand and moved my people’s bodies through the gates, lining them up in the marbled roadway. “They deserve better than this.” I felt as if I were walking through a dream, time seeming to slow as I worked tirelessly, going into nearby shops to find sheets to drape over them before delving into the Witchwoods for firewood for their pyres.

“Stars and light guide your way brothers and sisters as you make your way home among the stars and celestial skies above. Know that you are loved, you will be remembered, and those who still live will bring you justice.” I murmured softly, watching the pyres burn bright as I brought rest to my people’s souls.

“What do you wanna do with them?” Juice jerked his thumb towards the bodies of the Blood Court Fae and my lip curled in disgust just looking at them.

“They’ll be left for the carrion eaters. I won’t sully myself by burning their dead.” I growled low in my throat, turning away from the corpses and started walking the streets of the town, horrified at the destruction that was left behind. Buildings were burnt and damaged, windows broken, dried, silvery gold blood coated nearly everything thanks to this massacre. I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut as I slowly looked over the area with wide eyes that were brimming with tears.

“Jesus Christ,” Juice muttered, looking sick to his stomach. “I’ve seen some fucked up shit, but this is just…” He trailed off, words failing him. I swallowed hard against the bile rising in the back of my throat. This shit was absolutely haunting to see and I could almost taste the death in the air. We pressed on, working our way towards the palace, the sudden lack of bodies far more unnerving than seeing what was left of the guards.

“Oh no…” I came to an abrupt stop, yanking Juice back unintentionally, causing him to yelp in surprise. “Run. Run!” I let go of his arm, breaking into a sprint when I saw the shambling corpses heading our way, a Blood Fae standing near a statue of my grandparents controlling the bodies of my people.

“What the fuck is goin’ on?” Juice shouted as we sprinted through side streets, leaping over debris and ducking into ruined buildings, slipping out through broken walls.

“Blood Fae have necromancy and blood magic at their disposal. That Fae violated the bodies of my people by bringing them back from the dead under their control. This was a trap, they knew I would try to make a trip back to put my people to rest. And I fucking fell for it like a fool.” I snarled, leaping over a fallen column and kept going, pulling a little ahead of Juice when something hit me from the left, sending me flying to the ground. I yelped as I rolled across the stone, grappling with whoever had a grasp on me.

“Stupid bitch! I _knew_ you’d come back! I _told_ Ares that you would come here!” A hoarse voice hissed in my ear triumphantly as we wrestled to try and gain the upper hand.

“Get your filthy hands off of me, tel’athim!” I scrabbled at the pale hands holding onto my shoulders, digging my nails into their skin and ripping down to draw blood. They snarled in rage and flipped me so I was on my back, dead, black eyes staring down at me with a sadistic grin stretching thin, cracked lips. I managed to get my feet up onto the man’s stomach and kicked up, sending him crashing to the ground, giving me a chance to get up on my feet.

“Danica!”

I looked up and saw Juice dodging the undead, making his way towards us, a determined look on his face as he sprinted across the pavilion, leaping over busted up tables.

“Don’t!” I shouted, moving forward to shove the assassin out of the way so I could stand in between my mate and this arrogant ass, wanting to keep Juice safe.

“Oh. Oh, I see. I didn’t count on your soulbonded being here. This is absolutely _delicious_! He can watch you die screaming in agony before he joins you in death!” The gaunt looking Fae cackled maniacally, a twisted look lighting his sharp features up. My eyes darted from Juice to the assassin and I had to make a quick choice in where I needed to go. Surging forward, I threw myself at the assassin, slamming him down to the ground, my hands grabbing his shaggy, red hair and started slamming his skull into the marble over and over again, teeth bared in a feral snarl. I was going to at least give myself a chance to get a one up on this bastard, he wasn’t going to be allowed anywhere near Juice.

“Danica!”

I didn’t let up, bearing down on the bastard harder. I could feel my rage burning under my skin, a white hot blaze of righteous anger threatening to sear me from the inside out as I switched from smashing his head into the ground to punching him repeatedly in the face, his nose shattering and teeth breaking with each hit.

_Who’s screaming?_ I heard a faint screaming sound through my red tinged haze, realizing it was me after a moment. I was the one screaming, a loud, horrible, furious noise as I continued to pound into the Fae under me, black blood splattering all over my face and coating my hands as I hit him repeatedly.

“Danica! _Danica_!”

I felt Juice’s hands on my shoulders, pulling me off of the choking and gasping Fae, his arms wrapping around me tightly, holding me to him.

“Let me go!” I bellowed, struggling against his grip. “He has to pay!” I was snarling like a Fae hunting hound, a righteous fury making my blood boil. The Blood Fae lay there laughing between bouts of coughing up blood, pain making him curl in on himself, groaning in agony. I stopped struggling, watching him silently for a moment, studying him closely while debating on what I should do with him. He didn’t deserve mercy, that was never going to happen, but if I killed him, I would be no better.

“Okay. Okay. I’m okay.” I forced myself to take a breath to try and calm down, my hands trembling from the adrenaline still flowing through me. “Let’s go, I still have somewhere to be.” I muttered, breaking free of Juice’s grasp and took a few steps away.

“I don’t think so.”

I turned around when I heard Juice cry out in pain and saw the assassin had gotten to his feet and was using his own blood to cast an incantation that had Juice writhing on the ground in pain.

“Leave him out of this! This is between you and me!” My chest felt tight as I watched the scene unfolding before me.

“That ended the moment you brought him here. And now I’m going to boil him alive from the inside out.” He laughed maniacally again, the laughter getting higher and more crazed while Juice screamed out in agony.

“D-Dani-!” He groaned, a hand stretching towards me before dropping to the ground. I froze, my heart pounding in my chest, slamming into my ribcage as I stood there staring.

“No!” With a shriek that was inhuman sounding, I grabbed a sharp steel piece of a broken table and flew at the Blood Fae, ramming the steel into his chest, twisting the debris and shoving it all the way through his chest with a shriek of rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tel'athim is elvish for "arrogant prick"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song I used for this chapter is "Crush" by Joan Red. Obviously I do not own the rights to the song or lyrics.  
> Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vabJ36A4GQ

I dropped to the ground next to Juice, breathing hard and staring down at the slumped corpse of the Blood Fae, my hands black with his blood. I couldn’t believe what just happened; I killed someone, actually _killed _them. I’d never actually killed anyone before, this was going to haunt me for the rest of my life.__

__“Juice?” I croaked, turning to look at him, praying he was okay. “Juice, can you hear me?” Reaching out with shaking hands, I touched his arm, nearly gasping when I felt how cold he was. “Juan, please, wake up. Please.” I whimpered, shaking him now. There was no response and I let out an anguished sob, shaking him again. “Damn it!”_ _

__I staggered to my feet and picked him up, wincing a little at his weight, and started walking to the palace, determined to get there as fast as possible so I could find what I needed to save his life. I could only hope that we still had everything around in the alchemy lab otherwise I might just lose him._ _

___I’m so, so sorry love. I didn’t want you to get caught up in any of this._ Tears ran down my cheeks as I staggered through the doors of the palace, hurrying to the lab where I laid him on a table that didn’t have anything on it. Once I set him down, I immediately began hunting for what I needed, hoping that this rumor I’d heard from some of our alchemists years ago was true._ _

__“Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Um. Here we go,” With shaking hands, I grabbed vials of powdered unicorn horn, powdered dragon scales, fairy wing dust, a silver chalice and the sharpest silver plated dagger I could find. “It goes blood first if I remember right…” I sliced my arm open with the dagger, hissing at the pain, and held my arm over the chalice. When I thought I had enough, I covered the wound and hummed a soft, speedy melody and the wound vanished without so much as a scar, and added in the powdered unicorn horn, stirring it with the dagger, then alternated between adding the dragon scale and fairy wing dust slowly into the blood until it was all mixed in.  
Taking the chalice over to Juice, I opened his mouth and poured it carefully into his mouth, praying that this would work. As soon as the mixture was gone, I laid my hands on his chest and started humming softly, trying to think of a song to sing to channel my healing abilities._ _

__“ _Love, everytime I call for you I’m lost without my love. And only if we make it through, it’s all for you. It’s breaking me apart again, of all the times I’ll never win. Only on the road I never seem to open my eyes. I dream of things that could have been. Crush my heart I’m wearing thin. Only all alone I see myself. I lose myself in you._ ” I felt that familiar warmth radiating through my hands and up my arms, pooling in my chest, a bright rosy glow emanating from my palms as I focused my entire energy into healing Juice. There was a choking noise and a yell and I found myself getting knocked back to the floor with a startled screech as I landed on my ass. Juice shot straight up, swearing loudly as a bright gold light enveloped him, causing me to close my eyes and turn away from the light._ _

__“What the fuck? What the fuck happened?”_ _

__I cracked my eyes open a little to see if the light had subsided and let out a gasp of surprise. The rumors had been true and sitting in front of me was a now High Fae Juice. I got to my feet, bewildered that the potion had actually worked, my jaw dropping in shock as I studied Juice’s new appearance, taking in the rich bronze color of his skin and silver eyes, the usual irridecene of my people’s skin giving him an almost polished bronze statue look._ _

__“Holy fuck. That… I can’t… it actually worked.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him after me towards the mahogany mirror towering in the back corner of the room so he could look at himself._ _

__“What the…? Danica, what the hell did you do to me?” His gaze met mine in the reflection of the mirror._ _

__“I… there was a rumor among our alchemists that it was possible to turn a human into a High Fae. I… brought you here to the palace to try it so I could save your life. And it worked. The ritual along with my healing magic did the trick, but you… it rewrote your entire DNA. It’s as if you were never human. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.” I was so deeply sorry for doing what I did, but I had no idea what else I was supposed to do._ _

__“Jesus Christ,” he ran a hand over his head, completely thrown for a loop. “I mean, I appreciate you saving my life, I love you even more for it really, but how the hell do I handle this?” He motioned to himself, frowning deeply._ _

__“I’ll teach you magic. It’ll come naturally to you and you can use a glamour to hide the Fae look. Since we’re here, I want to grab some books, they’ll be useful for this situation. Again, I am really sorry for this. I really didn’t want this to happen, I never wanted you involved with my stuff, not like this.” I reached up to rest my hand on his cheek, drawing in a shaky breath. Juice wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me tight, and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I leaned into him, my cheek pressed against his chest as we stood there quietly for a while._ _

__“So now what?” He murmured, stroking my hair softly._ _

__“I guess now we look around. I need to gather books, and I’m looking for any sort of evidence that my parents made it out of here, too. Nyx didn’t see them that night, there’s a chance they could still…” I trailed off, trying to squash that hope down again just in case things didn’t go right. Juice nodded, letting go of me to go look over the books on the bookshelves, curious about things._ _

__“What is all of this anyway?” He pulled a large, red leatherbound book, flipping it open to look through it._ _

__“All sorts of stuff. Spells, rituals, the history of my… our Court. Anything and everything you can think of honestly.” I walked over to look at the books, biting my lip a little as I studied the titles. “I’m a little surprised you’re able to read any of that, it’s written in Sylvan.”_ _

__“This is interesting stuff. We’re bringing this with us right? We could put some of this to really good use.” Juice was completely absorbed, flipping through pages far quicker than I was expecting._ _

__“Uh… y-yeah, of course. If you’re good here, I’m going to look around the palace.” I chuckled a little, leaving him to his own devices so I could search my home. It was silent, eerily silent, so unlike how it used to be. Laughter and conversations, children giggling and playing games echoed through my memories as I walked among the wreckage, ghosts seeming to skirt around my peripheral vision, hazy half dreams of a time lost to death and destruction. I trailed my fingers along murals of happier times, the moonstone cold to the touch and I stopped a moment by the portrait hanging there, deep gouges torn through it, shattering my family all over again. I stared at it, reaching up to touch the torn canvas, smoothing it down so I could see my family’s faces again.  
I stepped away from the portrait, leaving it to rot along with everything else here, walking through the dust to the throne room, picking my way through debris and fallen Fae. I was going to give these Fae their proper rites, but first I needed to find something, anything really, to give me some sort of clue or closure. Or some semblance of closure anyway._ _

__“So this is where you ran the show, huh?”_ _

__I jumped when I heard Juice’s voice behind me, whipping around to face him. He was still holding onto that book, but had left the lab to come see what was going on here in the throne room._ _

__“Well, it’s where my parents ran the show. I was just there to look pretty for the people. I ran the political stuff behind the scenes.” I turned away, walking up the blood spattered steps, coming to a halt in front of my throne, studying the silver and sapphire encrusted seat, the crushed velvet upholstery crusted over with dried blood from one of my bodyguards. My jaw tightened when I closed my eyes, reliving the memory all over again, the screams as clear in my head now as they were on the night it happened. A sharp intake of breath had me opening my eyes again to look at Juice who had gone pale as he looked at me with wide eyes._ _

__“Holy shit.” He breathed, taking his hand away from my father’s throne, yanking it back as if it had bitten him. “I… Jesus Christ, I just saw everything that happened that night, or at least what happened here.”_ _

__“What? What do you mean you saw it?”_ _

__“I dunno, I just touched the throne and it was like I was there when everything happened.” Juice shrugged, still looking a little unnerved by this new ability of his._ _

__“I know I was here to try and find answers, but I think I’m leaving with more questions than anything. Let’s get those books and go home, I have a lot of research to do.”_ _


	7. Chapter 7

We had only been home for a few hours and I was completely stunned by how quickly Juice was picking up on using magic. It was rare enough for natural born Fae to be this prodigious at magic, but a human who was made into a Fae? This was unbelievable.

“You’re doing stuff that _I_ can’t even do and I’ve been around far longer than you, I’ve had more time to practice. How the hell is this a thing?” I was actually _jealous_ of his capabilities and how he was easily surpassing not only me, but some of the oldest Fae I knew like it was nothing. “I can only really handle healing magic and protection magic like barriers and shields and all of that is tied to music. You’re over here mastering complex sigils for combat spells and all sorts of stuff I hadn’t even _heard_ of until tonight.” My mind was just blown and Juice knew it, a cheeky grin lighting up his face as he leaned back against the couch, pulling me to sit in his lap.

“I think I’m doing better with this than I thought.” He chuckled, kissing me tenderly, resting his forehead on mine.

“Clearly Mr. Show Off,” I let out a sigh, cupping his face in my hands, stroking his cheekbones with my thumbs. “This has to stay between us. No one can know about what I had to do to save you. Not until I figure it out myself because I don’t know what the hell any of this means. I’m going to go take a warm bath, I need it after today.” I kissed him again, got to my feet and started walking back to the bedroom.

“Don’t worry baby, I’ve got a handle on this. No one’s gonna find out.” He followed after me with a smirk on his face, already slipping out of his shirt and tossing it onto our bed along with his pants. I rolled my eyes good naturedly, laughing softly at his ridiculousness. “What? I can keep it a secret!”

“Yeah, okay. Come here you,” I grinned, pulling him to me, my arms going around his neck so I could kiss him. “You gonna join me or…?” I let the question hang, letting him work it out for himself.

“Oh hell yeah!”

~*~*~

“See you at lunch?” Juice and I were finishing up breakfast together before he had to head off to work for the day, and I nodded, taking his dishes and putting them in the sink.

“Yeah, definitely. Thanks for making breakfast love, it was fantastic. I’ve got dishes covered this morning and I’ll run by the store to grab some stuff for dinner.” I replied, kissing his cheek. We’d quickly gotten into a nice routine in the short time I’d been here and I found it comforting to have this. Though it happened in less than ideal conditions, I was grateful that it had happened; he had been a source of strength that added to my own and I would be eternally grateful to him for that.

“Alright babe. I got dishes tonight then. See you later.” He took off and I shook my head, smiling a little bit and picked up my coffee mug along with a couple books and headed into the living room to curl up on the couch and start going through what I’d brought back from the Court, hoping to find some answers on how or why Juice was able to learn such advanced magic so quickly. I had briefly thought about getting in contact with Nyx, but I wasn’t sure if I completely trusted the Death Fae yet.

_Alright let’s get cracking. _I flipped open the first book, ‘Touch of the Occult’ and began to read. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it was still useful for some good healing spells and a couple of stronger shielding spells that could come in handy. I set it aside, reaching for the ‘Compendium on Ancient Fae’ when a knock on the door made me jump. I quickly cast my glamour just in case and got up to see who it was, my brow furrowing just a touch as a woman in a nice suit smiled at me.__

__“Danica Reid?” She pulled a badge out and flashed it. “Agent Stahl with the ATF. Do you mind if I come in and ask you a couple of questions?” She didn’t wait for my answer, coming right on into my home._ _

__“Can I help you?” I shut the door, eyeing this woman suspiciously. Juice had mentioned there was an agent harassing them and I was beginning to think it was this woman. “I’m kind of in the middle of some stuff, so if we could make this quick, I’d appreciate it.”_ _

__“Of course, no problem,” She gave me a saccharine smile and sat down at my kitchen table. “You are quite the puzzle here, Danica. Brand new in town and already shacking up with a member of Sam Crow. How’d that happen?”_ _

__“He’s my soulmate, Agent Stahl. Of course we’re living together.” I shot back, walking past her and into the living room, tucking my books away under some pillows before grabbing my empty coffee mug off the table so I could get a refill._ _

__“Ahh of course, of course. That makes perfect sense,” She nodded sagely as I took a seat with a fresh cup of coffee in hand. “Seems like it’s the only thing that makes any sort of sense. You’re quite the mystery woman; I can’t find a single record on you. No birth certificate, no social security number, nothing.”_ _

__“You’ve been looking into me? What the hell for?” I was getting uneasy about this Agent Stahl._ _

__“Just trying to figure out why a woman such as yourself would get involved with a dangerous criminal.”_ _

__“Juice? Dangerous?” I burst out laughing, nearly spilling my drink. “That’s absolutely hilarious. I don’t know what game you think you’re trying to play here, but just know that I can play games too and I can do it better than you can. I’ve had a lot more practice.” I was playing up my reaction to her calling Juice dangerous, knowing that she was right, he certainly could be when he wanted to, but she didn’t need to know that I knew that already._ _

__“I’m sure you do, sweetheart. How about those scars? They look pretty nasty and recent, too. Want to tell me what that’s all about?” There was a cruelty in her smile as she reached over to touch my right cheek, fingers running along the scars from my attack._ _

__“My personal life isn’t any of your damn business. What is it you want, Agent Stahl?” I jerked away from her, lip curling into a sneer._ _

__“Fair enough. Do you know of any illegal activity that Juan Ortiz or the Sons of Anarchy are involved in?”_ _

__“Lady, I don’t even _know_ the other Sons of Anarchy members other than Jax, let alone be privy to anything they do. As far as I know, they’re just motorcycle enthusiasts who work at an automotive shop. If we’re done here, I have errands to run and frankly, your face pisses me off and I’d like you as far away from me as possible.” I got to my feet and walked over to the door, one hand on the doorknob, and waited for her to get up._ _

__“Right. Well, that was easy. Listen, if you hear anything or see something that just doesn’t feel right, would you please give me a call?” She asked, fishing out a business card and handing it over to me. I just stared at her with a stone cold expression, refusing to take it._ _

__“I don’t think so. There’s literally zero reason for me to ever call you. Now get. Out.” I refrained from giving her a literal kick out the door, slamming the door shut behind her. I let out a shaky breath, an anxious feeling in my stomach as I hurried back to my room to change out of my pajamas, grabbed my phone and keys, and headed out the door. I dialed Juice immediately as I started walking to Teller-Morrow automotive._ _

__“Hey, you know that agent you mentioned to me the other day? Yeah, she just came by the apartment to question me about you guys. I’m on my way right now so we can talk face to face.”_ _


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's taken so long to update! I've been incredibly busy and it hasn't left me with much time to write! I'm hoping to start getting at least one or two chapters out a week now, but it may end up being every couple of weeks depending on how busy things are!

By the time I got to Teller-Morrow, I was a little calmer, but my hands still shook a bit and I’d made sure to keep an eye out just in case she had me tailed. Juice met up with me in the parking lot, hurrying me back to the clubhouse so we could sit down and talk.

“What happened?”

“She dropped in and started asking me about my personal life, brought up my scars, mentioned how it was interesting that she couldn’t find any info on me at all, then asked if I knew about any illegal activities you or the rest of the club were up to.”

“What’d you tell her?” He was staring intensely at me, lips pressed into a thin line while his brow furrowed a little.

“The truth: as far as I knew, you and the others are just mechanics and motorcycle enthusiasts.” It was true; Juice hadn’t mentioned anything he did for the club and didn’t mention anything beyond anything relevant like helping Gemma with fundraisers or stuff like that. If they were doing illegal shit, I didn’t know and I didn’t _want_ to know. “We keep that shit separated from home. Unless it somehow involves me directly, like my life is in danger or _your_ life is in danger or _something_ , I don’t want to know. I’m perfectly fine being kept in the dark.” I rubbed my face with my hands, tired as all hell.

“You should get a room at Ivy’s hotel. I want you somewhere protected from Stahl. If that bitch harrasses you again, she’s not gonna like what’s gonna happen to her.” Juice growled, his fierceness endearing if not a touch scary.

“I’ll be fine at home, I’m not going into hiding.” I protested, getting up to follow him over to the bar, resting a hand on his shoulder. “She thinks she can intimidate me into talking about shit that I don’t know about. She’s bluffing and I’m not scared of her.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his back with a soft sigh.

“Humor me, please? Just for now, it’s not forever. I just want to make sure that you’re safe and protected. It’s bad enough that that Ares fuck was trying to get Rusalka to turn on you, I don’t need Stahl hauling you in for something stupid.”

“Fine, but only because I don’t want you to worry. I’ll go home and get my stuff packed up.” I relented. I didn’t want to stay at the hotel, but if it gave him peace of mind, then I’d suck it up and do it. “I’m doing this on one condition though: you come with me. We can treat it like a vacation or something.” If I had to hide out, then he was coming with me.

“Yeah, alright, that’s fair. Let me let Clay know what’s goin’ on and then we’ll go pack our shit up and head over to Ivy’s.”

“I have to get over there now, we’re supposed to be having a meeting on what to do about Ares lurking around and what to do about Helena trying to take control of the Faelands. We’ll pack later after I deal with all of this mess,” I popped up to my feet, placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Now? C’mon babe, wait just a minute, you just got here.” Juice caught my hand in his, pulling me down into his lap with a playful grin.

“Juan Carlos Ortiz, I _have_ to go! I’m going to be late and I am _never_ late for _anything_!” I giggled as he pressed soft kisses along my jaw and neck, squirming in his grasp when he reached a sensitive spot on my neck. “Stop it, that _tickles_!” I was full on laughing now, trying to move so he couldn’t access my ticklish spot, wiggling in his grasp to try and get free.

“I dunno babe, it’s kinda cute seeing you like this,” He teased me, but quit trying to tickle me all the same. “Go on, I’ll meet you over at Ivy’s later.”

“See you in a while love.” I was breathless from laughing so hard, tendrils of silvery hair that had come free of my braid falling into my face when I leaned in to kiss him. I could feel his hand come up to cup my face, rough fingers stroking over my cheekbone tenderly as he returned the kiss, resting his forehead against mine when we came up for air.

“Be safe, okay? Don’t let Stahl get a rise out of you.”

~*~*~

I could tell someone was tailing me towards Ivy’s, the creepy black van not exactly blending in well with the rest of the cars going by as I walked to the hotel. I wasn’t willing to risk exposing our people so I found myself ducking into an alleyway when a large truck blocked the van’s view, taking a back way to the hotel to avoid any problems. This bitch was absolutely relentless in trying to get information, and while I found her tenacity somewhat admirable, I was getting highly agitated that she was focusing that tenacity on us. Whatever her hard on for Juice and the others was, it was quickly becoming a thorn in my side. I already had enough on my plate without this being added to it.

_I don’t know what the hell Juice is involved in, but damn if it isn’t a lot of trouble._ I peered out around a corner, looking both ways to make sure I’d lost my tail, and went into the hotel quickly, breathing a silent sigh of relief as I leaned back against the doors.

“Hey, you must be Danica. The boss is out at the pool with Ashlyn, they’re waiting on the other two to get here.” A young gargoyle greeted me from the front desk, a grin lighting up his face as he jerked a clawed thumb back towards the twin frosted glass doors to the left of the desk.

“Awesome, thanks!” I raised a hand in a slight wave, striding towards the doors and heading out to the really fancy looking pool where Ivy and Ashlyn were talking quietly. “We have a problem. A big one.” I kicked my shoes off, setting them off to the side so I could dip my feet into the pool, pleased by the comfortable temperature of the water.

“What’s going on? Is it Keres? Did she betray us already?” Ashlyn was frowning, worried at the thought of having to potentially deal with Keres turning us into her mother.

“No, no I don’t think so. This is about that ATF agent, June Stahl. Y’know how she’s been poking around trying to find some sort of dirt on the guys and the rest of the club? Well now she’s looking into _us_. Er… okay, maybe not you Ashlyn since I don’t think anyone’s seen you and your soulmate together out in public before. It’s Happy right?” I glanced her way, trying to recall her soulmate’s name. I’d only ever heard his name a couple of times from Juice, but hadn’t met him yet.

“We haven’t really known each other long. It’s only been a couple weeks. And even then, we’re not together in public. I don’t think they’d have any proof of me even existing.” Ashlyn nodded, biting her lip. She was clearly thinking about this fairly hard, her brow creasing slightly and a frown was tugging at her lips.

“She came by Juice’s place this morning asking a bunch of questions. And she’s been actively trying to dig into who we are, like doing actual background checks.” I glanced over to Ivy since she had been seen with Kip, the prospect. “Of course now she’s even _more_ suspicious because we don’t have anything: no ID, no birth certificates, not one thing. I’m worried we’re going to have our world exposed to the human world.” And now we reached the crux of the situation: our potential exposure to the human world beyond what we’ve already dealt with. It was one thing to show our true selves to our mates, it was an entirely different matter for our world to be exposed to all of humanity.

“Fuck. No wonder Kip’s been asking me to stay here. He’s been acting strange lately and I couldn’t figure it out, but this explains so much.” Ivy’s eyes went wide with the realization of why Kip had been so overprotective lately. It had explained why Juice had been so much more protective lately than usual, too.

“What do we do? How do we handle this? We can’t risk our world being brought into light, the humans would panic. We got lucky that our soulmates didn’t freak out about us.” Ashlyn was wringing her hands together as she spoke, the same anxiousness she displayed welling up in the pit of my stomach. Humans didn’t even like different humans, if they knew about us? It would be chaos waiting to happen. Oh sure, some would be into the idea of Fae existing, but others would call us monsters, want us wiped off the planet, and it would be a war they wouldn’t win.

“Oh, no, Chibs totally freaked out. He waited until he was out of earshot of Rusalka, but he definitely freaked. He’s from Scotland and lived in Ireland, the stories they have about us? I mean, okay, not _totally_ wrong, but definitely not one hundred percent accurate either.” I grinned, hoping to ease some tension by joking around with Chibs’ reaction according to Juice. “But you’re right, Ashlyn. I’m not sure we’d receive a warm welcome by the people here, especially if they knew about the Blood Court and the Court of Bones.” We traded knowing looks, Ivy agreeing softly with me about those two abominations. Despite what Nyx had said, I still didn’t like or trust Keres. Something just seemed off about this whole thing with her and I didn’t trust it one bit.

“Ivy, I’m gonna need to get a room. Juice wants me hidden away here just in case Stahl tries to pull some shady shit. We need to lay low until all of this blows over.” I continued on, thanking her when she nodded in agreeance.

“Shit. Here we go.” Ashlyn murmured, her gaze trained on something over my shoulder. Turning, I saw Keres and Rusalka walking our way, the two of them looking less than thrilled. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, but I could tell whatever they were talking about had them as agitated, if not more, than I was.

“Have you guys been questioned by this ATF agent yet?” Keres growled, her crimson eyes blazing with rage. Oh she’d definitely had a run in with Stahl then and it clearly went about as well as my own encounter with her had.

“Yup. Just had an encounter with her this morning. I take it by that shining attitude of yours, you met her too.” I moved over so she could sit down as well and so I could put some space between the Blood Fae and myself. I didn’t want to be this close to her; I was still skeptical of her intentions and didn’t want to be tainted by her evil.

“She reminds me of my mother. Do you have any idea how unsettling that is to see in a human?” Keres shuddered at the mention of her mother, making a face. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her exaggerated reaction to the comparison between the two women, scoffing slightly. Who did she think she was fooling?

“Oh? You mean that’s not comforting to you?” I shot back, snorting derisively, sneering at the Blood Fae in disgust.

“No. It’s not. Are we gonna have a problem? If you’ve got something to say to me, I suggest you do it.” Keres snapped back with a vicious snarl on the tail end of her words. I could see Ivy back up quickly out of the corner of my eyes as we got to our feet. I was ready to throw down with Keres, wanting a little blood for the blood her people spilled. Keres had squared up as well, fists raised in preparation to swing.

“I’ve got a lot to say actually. What sort of game are you playin’ at here, Blood Court? Your kind doesn’t just turn traitor at the drop of a hat, so what’s the deal? Did mommy make you angry so you decided to run off in a tantrum?” I hissed out, taking up a fighting stance as well, watching her with deadly intent. Keres swore, cocking her arm back, and struck me in the jaw with her clenched fist, the taste of blood filling my mouth as my inner cheek and lip split wide open. I spat blood, watching the silvery gold liquid spatter across the concrete near the pool, and tackled Keres to the ground. We scrabbled for purchase, talons digging into exposed skin, Ivy screaming while Rusalka laughed her ass off.

“I can’t see what’s happening, but it sounds hilarious!” She cackled like a mad woman from where she perched herself on one of the lounge chairs. I ignored the Bone Fae, more focused on raking my talons across Keres’ face.

“I’m not playing at anything! I didn’t agree with the choice that was made to attack your people! Hell I even sent my friend Kiril to try and _save_ your people!” Keres bellowed in my ear, grabbing onto my arm and yanking hard to pull it away from her neck. I snarled viciously in response and bit into her shoulder, digging my fangs in deeply, the sour taste of her blood mingling with mine, but I refused to let up. Fingers gripped my hair, yanking back hard to dislodge me, a foot making impact with my gut. The force of the kick had me flying back into some of the furniture and Keres was on me in an instant, her fists connecting with my face, chest, and gut.

“Hey! Break it up!” A masculine voice broke through our screeching and snarls.

“Shit!” Juice’s voice cut through the blood haze as his arms wrapped around me, pulling me away from Keres, holding tightly to my waist as I struggled in his grasp, hissing at Keres who had been hauled back by a very tall, lumberjack looking man who must have been her mate.

“What is going on?” Nyx had pushed her way through the others, disbelief written all over her face as she looked between the two of us, covered in blood and a right mess.

“She started it.” Keres ground out, spitting black blood from where I managed to clock her in the mouth. Nyx was frowning deeply, her brow furrowing in frustration and let out an exasperated snarl.

“You have got to be kidding me. What did we talk about already, Danica? Keres is on _our_ side!”

“I don’t buy it! Watch, this is all just for show. Now that we’re all here, she’s going to find a way to bring in her assassins and deal with us right here and now.” I spat, gripping onto Juice’s arms tightly. He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my neck, one hand moving carefully to rub my back gently, whispering sweet words to try and calm me down.

“Easy babe, c’mon take it down a notch. It’s okay, I’ve got you.” He murmured softly, kissing along my ear tenderly.

“We have bigger problems right now! Settle your issues later, today isn’t the day for this. And Natalya, egging them on certainly doesn’t help. Ashlyn’s the only one here who hasn’t been interrogated by Agent Stahl since she and Happy haven’t been seen together in public. The rest of us are in big trouble if she keeps pursuing this, our people could be dragged into the light, shown that we’re not just stories, myths, made up monsters to keep children in line.” Nyx barked, her usual cool demeanor cracking slightly to reveal a fiery anger brewing just under the surface. It was eerie to see her look so calm and yet so furious all at once, her sharp features seeming sharper than normal as she glared at Keres and I.

“Fine, okay, whatever.” I grumbled, pushing away from Juice to walk off a few feet away, hissing softly as he immediately came after me, inspecting the damage to my face.

“She got you good, babe. That lip of yours doesn’t look good.” He very carefully ran his thumb over my swollen lip, absently licking the blood off as he studied me with a slight frown.

“You want to beat each other senseless? Fine, you’ll have your time. Right now though, I need you two to act like the royalty that you are and not some common Fae fighting for scraps. The only way we are going to survive all of this is by working together. Something big is coming and if we don’t get ahead of whatever it is, we are all going to be pulled under and crushed.” Nyx was still berating us, and I found I couldn’t meet her harsh gaze, keeping my eyes averted, my cheeks and ears burning from shame. A beat of silence passed, no one saying a word, until Happy scooped Ashlyn up to take her back to her hotel room, her mermaid tail glittering in the sunlight as he carried her past us, grinning at the wolf whistles from the guys. That moment of relaxation seemed to break everyone up, Keres and her mate going up to the room she presumably had here, Rusalka and Chibs going in as well, the Bone Court Fae laughing loudly at something he said to her, I got to my feet to go in as well, Juice right on my heels.

“Come here baby, let me get a better look at you,” He was gentle as he pulled me to a stop, carefully touching my face with a frown. “Shit you really got the hell knocked out of you. Might need to start calling you my little hellcat.” He teased me softly, smiling just a little.

“Bite me, my love.” I muttered with a huff of annoyance.

“Don’t tempt me.” He leaned in to kiss me softly before lifting his hand up, a soft, blue glow coming from the palm of his hand. “Hold still, okay?”

I stood still as he carefully ran his hand over my injuries, focusing entirely on healing the wounds, humming softly under his breath as he worked. The warmth of the healing magic knit itself into my skin, leaving my mouth tingling with the magic and I smiled as soon as it was over. He’d gotten so good at this so quickly, I was impressed.

“Thank you love. You didn’t need to do that, it was fine.” I leaned in to hug him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my cheek to his chest, breathing in his scent, finding it soothing.

“You doing okay? You two were goin’ at it pretty hard and she really landed some good shots.” He’d put a finger under my chin, tilting my head up to meet his worried gaze.

“Yeah, I’m alright. I don’t regret what I did, but I do regret letting my temper get the better of me. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m making questionable choices left and right lately. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Juan.” I was frustrated with myself for lashing out, but just seeing her face was enough to set me off. I wasn’t normally violent or angry like this and everything just _hurt_ when I saw her.

“Nothing is wrong with you. You’re grieving, Dani. You lost your home, most of your people, you almost lost me… It’s a lot to put on someone. You don’t have to do this alone, let me help.” Juice pulled me back into a tight grip, one hand stroking my back while the other ran through my hair, tender and caring as could be. I pressed my face into his neck, my fingers gripping the back of his cut, bunching up the leather and the soft cotton shirt beneath it. I didn’t want this moment to come to an end, my heart swelling with a joy I’d never known before as we held each other, quietly appreciating one another’s presence.

“It’s my burden to bear. I’ve done enough to you, I can’t put anymore on your shoulders.” The protest was weaker than I’d meant for it to be, his strength and kindness nearly bringing me to my knees.

“Bullshit, you saved me by performing that ritual. So what if I’m Fae now? You did what you had to do and I’m glad you did. We’re a team, Danica. I’m here to help shoulder your burdens and do whatever I can to lighten the load. Just say the word and I’m there baby.” His hands went from my hair and back, to my face where he gently peppered me with kisses, making me laugh softly.

“I love you.” I leaned in to kiss him when someone cleared their throat and we jumped apart quickly, a scowl darkening my face when I spotted Keres strolling our way with a nasty smile on her face. Juice quickly traced the sigil to renew his glamour on his arm as surreptitiously as possible as the Blood Fae approached us. “How long have you been there?” I demanded hotly, bristling at the intrusion on our moment.

“Not long at all. Why? Did I interrupt something?” Her grin only got wider at my reaction.

“No,” I growled icily, turning to Juice with a softer look. “I’ll see you after the meeting, okay babe?” I stood on tiptoes to plant a quick kiss to his lips and stalked off to the board room where we were supposed to be meeting up to discuss our options.

“Wait a second,” Keres grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to stop and face her. “I know you made Juice a High Fae. How’d you do it?”


End file.
